Making sense of anxiety

You can use cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help you to better understand your irrational or misguided thoughts and beliefs like anxieties and fears. The CBT framework includes the ABC model which helps to breakdown and analyse how outside events can trigger negative believes and feelings. ABC stands for antecedents (the triggering event), beliefs (how you interpret it), and consequences (how it makes you feel and act).
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Through the ABC model you can learn to use rational thinking to respond to challenging situations in a more healthy and helpful way. Therapists use the ABC model for treating depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and other mental health conditions. Even if you do not have a mental health condition, the ABC model can still be beneficial in helping you to learn more about how you respond to situations and how to better handle them.
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The basic idea behind the ABC model is that external events (A) do not cause feelings and behaviours (C), but our beliefs (B) and, in particular, irrational beliefs do. The ABC model helps you to become aware and understand the relationship between your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It is a very powerful tool that can help you to learn about how you respond to situations and find ways to handle them better, whether you have a mental health condition or not.
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To use the ABC model for yourself think of events and situations that you tend to interpret negatively and that create negative and unhelpful thoughts and emotions. Breaking down the ABC chain can help you to find a more helpful and positive interpretation of events that avoid negative and unhelpful feelings and behaviours.
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Have a think about situations that cause you negative feelings and use the ABC model to reinterpret them. Once you have used the ABC model a couple of times you will find it very helpful to better cope with and react to challenging outside events and situations. You will also gain a much better understanding of the relationship between your thoughts, your feelings and your behaviours.

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